Once and For All
by Serenity Turner
Summary: Siri, in the summer before her senior year, finds herself in the same time as dear old Jack, beautiful William, and...crazy Elizabeth! R&R please! not as dumb as I made it sound
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pirates of the Caribbean, any of its characters (although I wish I could own Will…), or any of its locations. Go sue someone else.

**The plot, however, IS mine, and so are Justin, the Adams, and the Dupree's – NO TOUCHY! **

**Rating: PG-13, just to be safe**

**HORROR, DRAMA, AND A TOUCH OF COMEDY**

Prologue 

_It's not like you to say sorry_

_I was waitin' on a diff'rent story…_

"Honey, turn down your radio! I can feel the ground shaking…" I rolled my eyes as I turned the knob on my stereo from ten to seven. How could you say no to Nickelback? Honestly… I went back to deciding what to wear to the movies that night. 'What to wear, what to wear,' I thought, brow furrowed as I thoroughly examined all of the contents of my closet. My eyes fell on a baby-blue cashmere sweater. I flung it, and my white jeans, onto my bed.

"Siri and Justin sittin' in a tree!" My younger brother's muffled voice carried through her door.

"Go away, Ricky!" I fumed.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

I flung open the door to tell him off, and accidentally hit him in the nose. He ran off wailing, and I counted off the seconds until I heard, "Siri Kathleen Adams!" As I walked into the kitchen, where my mother was stemming his nosebleed, I casually straightened out my pants.

"You rang?"

"Siri, what is the meaning of this? Why on EARTH would you think it okay to hit your brother, even if he was annoying you?"

"I didn't hit him," was my calm response. "I opened my door to tell him to go away, and he happened to be standing with his nose right in front of the doorknob. He brought it upon himself, you know. I had nothing to do with it." Since I was used to winning at those, I walked off. Seconds after I closed my door my mother flung it open.

"You may not walk out on me like that, and since you did you're not going out tonight." It took me a second to register what she said.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

"You're not going out tonight," she repeated blatantly. "You can call up Justin and tell him that you're grounded."

"Grounded?" I asked incredulously. "I didn't even hit Ricky! He exaggerated, just to get me into trouble!"

"That's not the point. You strutted out before letting me, or Ricky, say anything. It's the attitude factor." She handed me the cordless phone and left.

"I did not strut," I grumbled as I dialed Justin's number. His sister answered the phone.

"Hey, Siri. Hold on a sec, I'll go get him." I tapped my foot. What if he thinks I'm blowing him off? Wait…worse, what if he thinks that I'm embarrassed to go out with him?

"Hey Si, what's up?" I smiled at his voice.

"Nothing. Well, actually there is something. See, I opened my door to tell my brother to bug off, and hit him in the nose with it. And now my mum says I'm grounded and can't go out tonight." There was a short pause.

"Does she know that I'm leaving tomorrow?"

"Leaving tomorrow?" I was confused.

"Yeah, don't you remember? I'm spending a few months up at the University of Florida to see if I like it there. I won't see you for at least four months." I smacked myself on the forehead.

"Yeah, I almost forgot. Hold on, I'll go tell her." And I did tell her, but to no avail.

"You're grounded, and it's your own fault. You'll just have to apologize and meet up with him when he gets back. At least you have phone access."

"Yeah, but it's not the same," I muttered. "Hey, Justin. I'm sorry, but my mom isn't letting up. I wish there was something I could do; I really want to see you before you leave." Once again there was silence on the other end.

"What time does your mom go to bed?" he asked quietly.

"I dunno, around nine. Why?"

"Meet me behind that big tree in your front yard at nine-thirty, okay?"

"But…"

"I don't think I can go that whole time without seeing you beforehand. I'm really going to miss you, Si. Just meet me. Please?" I sighed.

"Alright, but if I get caught I'm hauling you in with me, you hear?"

"Yup." He definitely sounded more cheerful. "I'll see you tonight then. Oh, and we aren't going to the movies; I know that your mom knows the owner. Just dress in dark clothes and we can float around town. I love you."

"I love you, too." I hung up, not quite sure of what to do next. I had never broken the rules before. Sure, I was your typical teenage girl, who threw a little sarcasm and cattiness into my daily attitude, but I was also the type that got good grades, always listened to my parents, and was responsible in all my relationships with guys. I figured that, since I was going to be a senior in high school it would only be normal for me to break the rules at least once. And I even had a good reason: My first serious boyfriend, whom I had been dating for twenty months, was going away to college. Who wouldn't break the rules in a situation like that?

I tossed my sweater and jeans into my closet and grabbed my black, paint-smothered jeans and an old hoodie. Pulling them on I examined myself in the mirror. I never before appreciated my physical being, and I was always complaining about small flaws, like my big hips, small bust, or huge pores. As I was looking at myself in that grunge clothing I actually saw myself as pretty. For the first time I appreciated my brilliant green eyes, which were flecked with bits of gold, and my long, sleek, chestnut colored hair. I shrugged my shoulders and flopped onto my bed. Lying on my stomach, I flipped through the channels until I found a somewhat suitable show to pass the time. The show was interesting enough, but I found myself glancing continually at my clock.

Finally nine fifteen rolled around. I took a bunch of clothes from my closet and stuffed them under my bedspread. It took me about five minutes of rearranging until the lump somewhat resembled my body.

I walked down the hall to my mum's room and pressed my ear to the door…no sound. That was good. Tiptoeing so as not to wake her or my brother, I went back to my room and cranked open my window. Getting out was easy, and I made my way to my front yard, where I could see Justin waiting for me under that tree.

So, how's that? I know the beginning is a bit slow, but it'll pick up – after all, it is a prologue. And Elizabeth, Will, and Jack are coming up…YAY! Oh, and I know this seems to have nothing to do with PotC, but it does! I promise!


	2. The Forbidden Old Mansion

**Disclaimer: Can be found in the prologue.**

**Chapter One: The Forbidden Old Mansion**

"Hey, you." He kissed me and we walked out onto the street. I began towards town but he grabbed my hand and led me the other way.

"I thought we were going to 'float around town.' Town is that way." I pointed in the other direction.

"I know. Let's just hang around here for a while." He led me to a stone bench and we sat down. His arm snaked around my waist, and I noticed an iron loop on a stone pillar next to him.

"What's that?" I asked, nodding towards the strange pillar.

"Hmmm? Oh, I think that's one of those things that people used to tie their horses too. You know, back in the 17- and 1800s." We sat in blissful silence for a couple of minutes. "Si, I'm really going to miss you." I smiled at him.

"I'm really going to miss you, too, Justin."

"No, I don't think you get how much I'm going to miss you. You're like…the spark in my life. I love you so much." He kissed me long and hard, and I kissed him back with all that was in me. Maybe high-school romances _could_ last forever…

Justin stood up, his hand clasped, once again, around mine. I followed him up the road, which wound up a small hill. Although the unkempt trees surrounding it blocked the entirety of it I knew that there was an old mansion there, and I could barely make out the wrought iron fence that I knew was at the end of the road.

"Si, has anyone told you the story behind this mansion?" I shook my head, forgetting that he couldn't see me very well in the dark. He continued anyway.

"The first, and last, occupants of this mansion were the Swanns. The father was the governor of Port Royale –"

"Port Royale?" I interrupted.

"That's what this town was known as before it was changed to Sondersville. Anyway, so he was the governor, and he lived there with his daughter, Elizabeth. She was about our age when she disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yes. See, she was engaged to the love of her life, Will Something-or-other, at the age of eighteen. But two weeks before they were to wed he calls off the wedding. Says he has fallen in love with another governor's daughter instead, and he plans to wed her. Even had the nerve to bring her to the Swanns' mansion when he told them. Well, Elizabeth goes mad, screams at the girl, and runs out of the house. She never came back. The only testimony they had was from the seventy-year-old gardener, who claimed that he saw her jump off of the cliff that was on the Swann property into the raging waters below, and he was already considered crazy. They searched under that cliff for years, but nothing had ever come up except a barn cat and a few empty rum bottles."

"Ooh, poor girl." We had reached the gate, and, as we stood there, looking up at the mansion, it began to rain hard.

"That isn't the half of it. Only three people have gone up there since. One, a fellow named Barty Hasmatcher, went up there three days after his sixtieth birthday. Said it was on his list of 'things to do before he died.' He was never seen again, and that was seventy-six years ago. Another, Alana Stealth, went up there the day after school let out for the summer. She, who had been teased by peers for all of her sixteen years of life, had gone up there to commit suicide. She ended up not having to do it. She was found sixteen years ago, two weeks after she had gone missing, with her eyes missing and 'I'm still here' carved into her stomach. She was the only one of the three to be found." By this time I was clenching his hand so hard that I must've cut off his circulation, but he did not falter. "The third was a reporter, a man by the name of Mitchell Matthews. He went missing four years ago. He wanted to be the one to find the body of the other man, and to solve the mystery of who the girl's murderer was. He went missing as well." We stood, looking up at the mansion in silence. I began involuntarily shivering and jumped when he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Last year, they locked up a man who they thought had to be guilty. He was eighty years old. Now think about it: The first disappearance happened seventy-six years ago. That means that, if that man _did_ kill those three, he killed the first man at the age of four." He paused again. "There are theories about the disappearances. One is that the three were committed by two, or even three, different people. Another is that her ghost has remained in the mansion and pushed the two men to suicide and marked the girl, and another is that the point between the cliff and the water below is a portal. Are you okay?" He looked at me. "Maybe if we go to my house I can…make you feel better." His hand was moving from my shoulders down to my chest. I pushed it down.

"A _portal_?" My convulsing began to slow.

"A portal. You know, in time. Basically, some think she traveled through time." I suddenly realized what was going on and looked at him with a disgusted look on my face.

"You made up some bull-crap story to scare me, just so I'd sleep with you before you left?"

"Bull-crap story? It is not a bull-crap story, those people really did disappear, and so did she!" This did not make me any less disgusted.

"I had thought better of you, Justin. And just to show that I'm NOT the pussy you think I am, I'm going to walk right into that mansion." I shoved the heavy gate and it slowly gave. Justin grabbed me from behind.

"Ok, I'm sorry! That was really stupid of me to try to get you to…well, do that. Please, just don't go in there!" I ignored him and, after wrenching my arms out of his grasp, I started confidently up the drive. I turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. "Are you too chicken-shit to follow me?" my voice quivered. Being the goody-goody that I am I was not accustomed to swearing, especially not to him, but I was too mad to think about that. I turned back around and jumped. Lightning flashed in the sky and I could've sworn that I saw a figure in a billowing dress standing there on the front steps. As soon as it was there, it was gone. I shook my head. Clearly his story had me seeing things. I continued, and stopped when I heard footsteps behind me. I felt Justin's familiar hand grasping mine. I refused to look at him.

"I'm sorry to have brought you here. From here onward we're in this together."

I started up the steps and boldly pushed the creaking doors open. We walked into a very dusty entrance hall. Each piece of furniture had a white cloth draped over it. I looked sharply to the left as I heard a clatter coming from what seemed to be the kitchen. Figuring it was only a mouse I entered the room to the right of the hall. It was a dining room with a very expensive-looking animal head mounted on the wall above a marble fireplace. I walked around the table and pulled off the cloth, examining the dusty tabletop and silver utensils.

BANG!

I looked up to see the silhouette of woman standing in front of the doors, which had slammed shut.

"Oh, I'm s-sorry. I d-didn't realize someone l-lived here." Justin's hold on my hand tightened.

"It's her!" he breathed in my ear. I turned to him, about to speak, and his eyes became very wide. I turned back around to see that her face was inches from my own, her eyes wide and menacing. I screamed as I saw her raise a knife, and just then I felt Justin shove me to the floor. It was like watching a movie in slow motion. She brought the knife up and stuck it right into his arm. She pulled it upward, slowly, and there was a pool of blood on the floor within seconds. Even though Justin's scream made my eardrums throb I could barely hear it. I yelped, and her head whipped in my direction.

"You're next." Her voice was raspy, as if she hadn't spoken to a soul in years. She picked up a chair, propping the legs beneath Justin's arms, and, with surprising strength, ran towards the fireplace. By the time I realized what she was doing it was too late to look away. She lifted the chair and skewered him on the horns of the animal head above the fireplace. She pulled the chair down, but he stayed put, and I could see the tip of the horn poking out of his stomach. The pained look on his face was too much to bear. He mouthed 'I really do love you,' and then he died. The woman turned around slowly. "I've been waiting for so long," she managed to say, "and I'm going to finish you off once and for all." I picked up a chair and flung it at her. She caught it, and I chose that moment to run for it. I ran out the door and down the drive to the gate. I heard the entrance doors fly open behind me. I rattled the gate, but she had locked it, and now she was taking her time as she advanced toward me, knowing that I had nowhere to go. Wait - what if…

I ran for it. I could hear her running after me, but I knew exactly what to do. I ran to that cliff. That was no ghost back there; she was real enough, and that's all I needed to know. I came to the cliff where she allegedly had jumped. I glanced back to her; by now she was only twenty feet away. Then I jumped.

**Hey hey hey! Well, you know what to do! Please review! (PS I told you it's really a PotC)**


	3. Chapter Two

I'M BACK

I'M BACK! AFTER YEARS AND YEARS! Literally. Anyway, here's Chapter Two – I hope I don't disappoint!

"_No," Elizabeth Swann said delicately, taking the wide-brimmed hat off of Will Turner's head, "he's a pirate." She leaned forward to kiss her love as her father turned his back, blushing._

"_I'll just be going then, shall I?" he muttered quietly, more to himself than anyone else. He hurried over to the stone stairways, and, as he was turning the corner, bumped into an unfamiliar girl in awkward clothing. "Pardon me," the Governor said, hardly noticing her strange attire._

I felt as though space and time were whooshing past me. Though I stood in one place, the ground beneath me moved swiftly, as though I was on a conveyor belt. My ride stopped as abruptly as it had begun. I shook my head in an attempt to rid myself of the dizziness caused by the ride. I looked around to see that I was standing outside on a stone staircase. I could see the Swann residence from there, though it now looked new and occupied. My house was also visible; well, I could see where it was going to be. It obviously had not been built yet, as there was a shed and small barn in its place. Men in red uniforms were stationed along the stone walls and at the docks, even distances between them. It seemed as though I was standing on the steps that led up to the stone fort overlooking the town and sea. All of a sudden, a soft, clear voice drifted down the staircase. I climbed the few remaining steps and stuck my head around the corner. A handsome young man stood next to a beautiful young woman. The woman spoke again, and Siri gasped as she recognized the voice and face – it was Elizabeth Swann! This Miss Swann, however, did not seem at all ferocious or remotely dangerous. In fact, she almost looked fragile. 'If that is Elizabeth, then that must be Will Turner,' I thought to myself. There was another man walking toward me, and for a moment I thought that he was coming to tell me off for being present during such private matters. A look on his face, however, told me that he hadn't seen me…yet. I was about to run down the stairs, but it was too late; the man bumped into me. His exquisite attire told me that he was a man of great importance. Before hurrying down the stairs, he muttered a small word of apology, in which I was able to detect a strong English accent; he vanished at the bottom of the stairs. I shook my head again before looking back at the couple; how I would have loved to be the woman in Will's arms! This thought brought Justin and his horrific death back to mind. I knew that it had just happened, yet it seemed so long ago. I was still in shock. I snapped back to the present (or…the past?) just in time: Will and Elizabeth were starting to walk toward me. I dashed down the stairs and headed for town.

I started down the nearest street and stopped at the first shop I came to, but the clothing inside looked very elegant and expensive. This led me to remember my lack of money – how was I going to pay for clothes? A crisp piece of parchment on the door caught my eye, so I took it down to read it.

**MISSING: GOVERNOR'S DAUGHTER**

Governor Francis DuPree, the Governor of the town of Saint Joseph, and his wife, Madame Anne DuPree, are missing their only daughter, Serenity DuPree of seventeen years.

Miss Serenity decided to take a walk along some wooded paths on the southern border of Saint Joseph. Only one of her escorts returned that night, a gash in his forehead. He said Miss Serenity had been taken captive by pirates. The captain is said to have brown, beaded dreadlocks and a red bandana on the crown of his head. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Miss Serenity DuPree, please come forward. A prize of one thousand pounds will be gladly given if she is found.

At the bottom of the flier there was a very detailed sketch of the young woman. I couldn't believe my eyes – she looked exactly like me! She was even my age! An idea began to form in my mind, a way for me to get the clothing I needed without needing to pay with the money I didn't have. Instead of walking directly into the shop, I continued down the street until I came to an alley with a heap of coals and dirt. I jumped in and rolled around, ripping my jeans and shirt so that they were mere tatters. Wincing over my once-beautiful, now-mutilated sweater, I reminded myself that I didn't have a choice.

I stepped out of the alleyway as a new person. I was no longer Siri Adams of Sondersville; I was Serenity DuPree of Saint Joseph. As I swaggered into the shop, an older woman with spectacles looked up from her book. She had beautiful, dark red hair that was twisted into an elegant bun, and she was well dressed. She noticed that something was wrong and immediately came around the counter to help me.

"You alright there, lass?" the woman asked in a hushed, worried tone. "Come now, I'll get ye a spot of tea and somethin' warm to drink." The woman had a thick Irish brogue **(A/N – I fail at writing in brogues, so use your imagination) **and her tone proved that my plan was running smoothly. She led me to a back room, which contained a small mattress, a fireplace with an comfortable-looking chair, a set of drawers, a cupboard, and a small table with one wooden chair. There was also a door in the back of the room. "Ye can call me Catherine," the woman continued in her comforting manner. "Ye just wrap yerself up in this here and I'll close up th' shop." She left Siri by the fire, a warm blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

"Zank you so much, Madame," Siri said in a well-imitated French accent. "My name is Serenity DuPree. My fahzer is ze Governor of Saint Joseph. I was kidnapped by ten of ze most terrifying pirates! Fortunately, I was able to escape zare ship in ze bay over zer. I truly wish to return to my family." Catherine's eyes widened with every word.

"Ye are Serenity, then?" She looked at Serenity (as she will be known from here on out) from head to toe. "Ye certainly look like 'er. Well, I've 'eard yer Pap's an outright mess, looking for ye.

"Yer probably hungry, yeah?" I nodded at this question. "Well, I'll make somethin' fer us t' eat. Ye go out that door," she nodded to the back door, "and take a nice bath. There's sem nice hot water in there, an' a towel on th' stool. I'll be in in twenty with some food and a nice gown." I thanked her for the hospitality and closed the door behind me.

I stripped and sat in the small wooden tub. My teeth chattered as I rubbed the small grainy bar of soap over my body. I rinsed off as quickly as possible, stepped out of the tub, and dried myself off. Catherine entered the room, holding a beautiful gown the colour of butter. It was elegant and slimming, and did not have too many poufs or frills. I breathed a deep sigh of adoration.

"Oh, lass!" Catherine choked. "Yer body! What happened to yer body?" I looked down at the source of her shock; thin scars ran across my body, from my chest down to my knees. Memories began to fill my head; I could feel them sloshing around like water in a basin.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Walking around like you own the place. Like you're better than me!" I felt the rope strike my back again. I flinched instinctively, though I could longer feel the pain. It had been happening for as long as I could remember. It was the small stuff that you had to look out for; it was over the small stuff that he cracked.

I never really had any good memories of my dad. The abuse started when I was four. Sometimes he used a belt; sometimes he used a knotted piece of rope. I tried to distract myself by focusing on small things. "Two plus two equals **CRACK **four. Two plus four equals **wince** six.' Time seemed to stop. Pretty soon, I would end up sitting there, taking each blow. Eventually, he would mutter a few words, kick me, and sit on the couch to watch television. After an hour or so of poisonous glares, there would be a "Get your sorry ass to bed!" at five-thirty.

When he died, I thought it was all my fault. I believed that I was the bad girl, and he, the good daddy, had every right to punish her for her transgressions.

He died of drug overdose when I was ten. All I remember of my father was painful words: "Why don't you just kill me? Come on, you pitiful excuse of a first grader! Kill your daddy!" or "If you do that one more time, I'll kill you! You hear me? I'LL KILL YOU!

"Oh, zose," I finally replied, slathering the rich accent on just in time. "When I was a young girl, I fell down ze hill by our mansion into a briar patch. Zis is nuzzing.

"Zis gown is beautiful!" I said in an attempt to change the subject.

"Oh, yes. It's one of my best gowns, and yer to have it free of charge. Now, I have a beautiful horse but no carriage."

"Is not a problem. I need no carriage."

"Then come; yer steed awaits ye!"

Thirty minutes and a few misdirections later, I found myself at the gates of the great DuPree residence. I took a deep breath and hoped to God that this would work. A guard finally strolled up to me, and, without so much as a glance at my face, began asking questions.

"Who be ye, missy?" he drawled. "Now you go on and skedaddle back home. Ain't no more girls that young Mister DuPree wants to see. Go on, now."

"And who are you to be ordering a lady of ze house around, hmm?" I interrupted in a delicate, yet demanding voice. The guard looked up at me for the first time, and he whisked his hat off of his head when he saw who it was.

"Eh, beggin' yer pardon, Miss Serenity." His voice trembled, as though he feared I would strike him. "It's just that…so many a young lady have been a-comin' and disruptin' the peace of the young master. I'm to see to it that all ladies that come bustlin' by –"

"Zat will do. Now, would you mind letting me in?"

**I'm sorry if this seems really short or comes as a disappointment, but I'm trying to get back into the groove of things. R&R, please!**

**Much love! And Orli plushies!**


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